Meeska, Mooseka, Mickey Mouse!

Harrison turned one. I am so happy and so sad. I can't believe how big he's gotten and all of the new things he's learning. It's so crazy to me that a person can change and learn so much in just one short year! To celebrate, we went to a place called Jumping Jacks, which is pretty much a big room with lots of blow up slides and bouncy toys. He loved it! I have never seen this kid more hyper.

The next day we had his birthday party with my side and zac's side of the family. It was a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse party. My mom and I spent all afternoon decorating and we were pretty happy with the results.


Harrison loved his party. He had so much fun opening all the presents and eating his very own cake, as you can see, and his tummy is still paying for it!





Happy Birthday Harrison!

Starstruck

Last night was Zac's work Christmas party. It was a beautiful dinner, and the decorations I am sure cost so much more than our whole wedding. One of the perks about Zac's job is that we sometimes get to go to parties with some prestigious 65+ers , which is fun for me just as long as I don't have to talk to them, because a room full of them is really intimidating. No big deal, we'll just sit safely by Zac's work friends... the other 4 people in the room in our demographic, right? Uhm, no. They had place cards and seating assignments, all meticulously planned out so that us little people would have no chance but to sit next to and eat with the ones that make us nervous. Gulp. After the initial 2 minutes where we were politely and zealously bombarded with questions (one of these couples is not like the others) it was really fun to listen to everyone's intelligent conversations and politely nod. Does anyone else get really freaked out by being with important, fascinating people? In the end we had a great night and left without saying anything really stupid, and we even won one of the beautiful centerpieces.

And because it wasn't the type of place to take pictures since apparently no one else was starstruck, we decided to snag some sort of momento from the night. So after he left, we snatched the placecard of the gentleman sitting behind us who, I must admit, I have a little crush on.

Mr. Destructo

Oh Harrison. This boy keeps me busy. He started walking and needless to say is into EVERYTHING. I was making cookies last night and Zac asked Harrison if he wanted to give Maisey a dog treat. We are trying to teach him the difference between his toys and food and Maisey's toys and food. Either way, everything pretty much goes into his mouth and it grosses me out. So anyway, Zac pulls out the dog treats, hands the bag to harrison and says probably ten times "No, give it to Maisey." then "Good boy!" After a couple of minutes I realize it is quiet, which is weird. I look down and see Harrison and Maisey sitting on the kitchen floor, surrounded by dog treats that Harrison somehow opened the bag and dumped all over the floor. Maisey is going crazy eating treats and Harrison looks up at me with his cheeks all puffed up. Yes, he was having a feast too. Disgusting. These aren't just like little dog bones. They are called "Mar-o Treats"...gag... and they are stuffed with a nasty meat substance. No more lip kisses for awhile, at least until I forget about this whole incident. Maisey is just as naughty. As you can see in the picture below, she is right there with him when he gets into trouble. She follows this boy everywhere, and anytime she knows food may be involved I swear I can hear her tell him "Get some for me too!" Gotta love my two troublemakers.

Fall so far

I have been horrible about blogging lately. I figured that since I have so much to catch up on I would just do a slideshow, so here goes! If you care what the picture is about drag your mouse over the slideshow.

History

I am more proud to be an American today than I ever have been. I didn't think this election would effect me this way, but I have been so emotional and sobby ever since I found out that starting next year we will have an African-American President. This country that we live in is so incredible and last night is proof. It doesn't matter which political party you belong to. It doesn't matter what your beliefs are. A people who have been fighting for so long for the same rights as others and have suffered just because of the color of their skin finally feel vindicated. Congratulations! I am so proud to be an American and a part of history when the first African-American became President of the United States, most especially when so many African-Americans never thought they would live to see this day. Most of us will never understand, can never comprehend, the suffereing of so many because of the color of their skin. After the announcement last night I watched many people sobbing in disbelief. Whoopi Goldberg described how she felt about it this morning on The View. She said that she has always felt like she was an American but she feels like she can finally set her suitcase down. Sherri Sheperd sobbed as she told her son that he can be President. This is one huge, long-overdue step towards breaking down all the barriers for anyone who has suffered because of their skin color. I pray that one day everyone, no matter what their difference, will be given a truly fair chance at anything they desire. I applaud Barack Obama for the huge ceiling that he has shattered for all of us. What he has done is an incredible feat. I pray that none of us will take for granted this great country and the rights that we all posess. Thank you Barack Obama for being brave enough to face this enormous challenge. Congratulations to anyone who has ever been discriminated for any reason. This is a victory for us all.

Can I also say how great it is to see a President who outwardly adores his family? Love it!

Thankful Thursday

* The weather is just perfect so that I can open the windows in my house to keep it cool and I can hear the kids playing at the park across the street

* I was folding laundry this morning and Harrison was sitting right in the middle of the pile throwing clothes around when the "Elmo's World" song came on (for any of you that ever have Sesame Street on at your house)and he snapped his head up to look at the TV and started laughing. Love his laugh

* I am not wearing any makeup because I ran out of it yesterday, so I have been rubbing my eyes and face all day and it is nice for a change

* I think I know what I am making for dinner tonight

* The Office is on tonight

* Halloween is next week, which means I get to put Harrison in his monkey costume that I bought in August - it can't come soon enough.

* The laundry is done for the week

* Maisey is asleep on the couch, curled up like a cat. She is so funny.

* The pinatas I am making for the family Halloween party are almost done, and they are looking pretty good!

* The mountains by our house are so pretty, especially this time of the year, and I have a great view of them from my computer.

* Harrison is starting to eat more and more solid food every day. He turns 1 in about a month, which means no more formula! Can't wait for that.

* Zac is in cub scouts and last night was the pumpkin carving pack meeting. We managed to haul 30 pumpkins into the church and the boys carved them without any injuries and without ruining the carpet in the church.

* I get to vote, which is a big blessing. And I get to vote early, which means that I don't have to wait in the super long lines on November 4th. Plus I will probably get one of those cute stickers that says "I Voted" with a fingerprint on it.

Crazy Bus

We live in Provo and Zac works in Salt Lake. The commute is a bit long, not to mention expensive and Zac's work pays for him to have a UTA pass, so he rides the bus. He is an early bird and much prefers to leave at 5:30 AM and get home at 5:30 PM rather than leave at 6:30 and get home at 6:30. I have never thought that anything exciting happens that early in the morning, but Zac's bus experiences are starting to prove me wrong. On more than one occasion, Zac has called me and said "I am so lucky to be alive! The bus driver nearly drove us off the road 4 different times today!" So understandably, I am a little worried about his safety every time he leaves for work and I say to him at least twice before he walks out the door "Be so careful!" He gets to work at about 7 in the morning and Harrison and I are usually still asleep, so Zac doesn't call before 9 or 10 to make sure not to wake us up. Which is why I was a little worried when the phone rang at 7 this morning.

Zac: You are not going to believe what happened to me this morning! I am still shaking!
Me: (Freaking out) Are you okay?

He proceeds to tell me that when he got on the bus this morning, he sat next to a guy who had a backpack in his lap and was sleeping with this head against the window. No big deal. They keep the lights out on the bus that early because almost everybody sleeps. A couple minutes later they are on the freeway going 75, the guy puts his face against the window and starts to act a little weird. "He's probably just having a dream or something." So Zac sits back in his chair and tries to doze off. Then out of nowhere the guy chucks his backpack onto Zac and clings to the window, trying to open it. Zac is thinking "Holy cow, this guy is trying to jump out the window!" So Zac grabs onto the guy and struggles with him to get him away from the window. A man behind Zac sees what's going on and tries to fight him off the window so he can close it. With all the commotion going on, everyone just watches. They finally get the bus driver to pull over and the guy sort of gave up. Zac looked at the him and noticed that his eyes were rolled back in his head and yells for help. A lady in the back says "I'm trained. I can help him!" She looked at him and he came to. She said that he seemed okay and that they could keep going, but Zac wasn't convinced, so they called the paramedics. A firetruck, police car and ambulance later they said that the guy was okay to get back on the bus. Apparently the man had a seizure. He had one of those pill boxes that you put all your medications in for the month, so maybe he has epilepsy or something. Understandably, he was embarassed when he got back on the bus. He thanked Zac for helping him and they chatted for a minute before the guy leaned back up against the window. I am glad Zac was there to help him, but I am seriously considering chauffering him to work from now on.

Good Laugh

This video is from Saturday Night Live last weekend. I laughed pretty hard so I thought I would share. Happy Friday!

The Lawrence Welk Show

Weird and Random

I was tagged to list 7 weird/random facts about myself and despite my initial "I don't think i'll do this one" response, I never have a good answer for those name-one-interesting-thing-about-yourself games and so I figured I would humor myself and try it.

Fact 1: I have sadly come to the conclusion that after you have a baby, you may be back to your pre-baby weight, but you will never have the same body. Period. And even though I know this is true I still tell myself that "I will start working out tomorrow and get back the body that I used to have and didn't appreciate." Never happens. My goal one day is to run a marathon, but I think you have to be able to run a mile without passing out first. Everything has it's season, right? Maybe I will start tomorrow...

Fact 2: My very favorite blog to look at is called Seriously So Blessed and it is pretty much my daily medicine. At first when I read this blog I was completely offended. Then I realized how hilarious and dead-on it is. If anybody is interested in a good laugh and Utah-girl humor, I highly recommend it! If you want to check it out, here it is.

Fact 3: I have always thought that October is the best month for a birthday, probably because I love October and that's when my birthday is. It always seems like I am meeting people with my same birthday. I don't know if I am just looking for it and so it seems to pop up everywhere or what. One of my friends growing up shared my birthday. One of Zac's old college roommates with whom we are good friends and I share the same birthday. I just found out that the twin girls in Jon and Kate Plus Eight have the same birthday too. Does anyone else feel the same way about their birthday?

Fact 4: Anyone that knows Zac knows how mellow and easy-going he is. He is probably the easiest person in the world to be married to. He always lets me have my way and doesn't complain about it ever with one exception: control over the thermostat. For the longest time we would constantly battle with that thing. I would turn the temperature to what I thought was comfortable. As soon as I would walk away, he would come behind me and change it in the direction that saved us money on energy - cooler in the Winter, warmer in the Summer. Then I would think "Geez, it feels hot/cold in here." And I would check the thermostat and sure enough it would be a degree or two hotter/cooler than what I set it at. I would ask him about it and he would tell me that he wants to save as much as possible on the energy bill in our house. Then I would say "But shouldn't we be comfortable in our own house?" And then he would smile and apologize and let it go, with a smug grin of course. And sure enough, the same thing would happen the very next day. And this happened for the longest time. Well I am finally letting it go. I figure that he has more than earned control of the thermostat with all that he lets me get away with. So this one goes out to you, baby. Thanks for letting me get away with a lot of worse things. :)

Fact 5: One of my biggest pet peeves is the positioning of the shower head. I am all about taking a shower away from the cold marble wall and so I always have to have the shower head pointed out. The problem with this is that if you forget to point the shower head down before you turn the shower on you get a very unpleasant surprise. Anyone who is weird like me and cares about this knows that when you first turn the shower on it shoots out a 1/2 second stream of cold water before the hot water comes out. A 1/2 second doesn't seem like a big deal, but every time I forget to point the shower head down before I turn it on I totally freak out. It mostly happens when I am staying somewhere other than my house, am out of my routine and forget about the cold stream until it's too late. Hate that!

Fact 6: If I could go back to school for anything in the world, it would be culinary school.

Fact 7: I was born with a big dark quarter-sized birthmark on my right calf. I always hated it as a kid and felt like that was the only thing that people could see if I wore shorts, which was probably true. I had it removed when I was 11 because it was pre-cancerous, not to mention ugly. So now I have a big scar on my leg, but it was well worth the trade-off. It's one of those things that I never think about, so when Harrison was born and I saw a big dark birthmark on his stomach I was like "Oh man, he probably going to hate that when he gets older." I love it on him. I totally think it adds character and I adore it, but I am sure he won't feel the same way about it when he is in a swimming suit and everyone can see it. Maybe boys don't care about that stuff. Does anyone know if birthmarks like that are hereditary? The older he gets and the more I learn about him, the more I realize he is a miniature Hillary, in boy form of course. The birthmark seems to be no exception.


Fact 8: I am pretty much the last person to board the Twilight Series train. I am currently about 150 pages from the end of Breaking Dawn, and I am so ready to be done with it. I am ashamed to admit that I am a book cheater. It is a huge book-buzzkill, but I do it anyway. I got about halfway through Breaking Dawn and was like "I can't stand it anymore!" I thought it was going in a really weird direction and got really bored and so I thought "I am going to find out what happens because I can't read another chapter without knowing if all this is worth it!" So I peeked ahead and found out what happens and 2 weeks later I am still not done. I totally ruined it for myself. I will read a few chapters every now and then but the thrill is pretty much gone when you know how it ends. Maybe one day I will finish. I probably should, because I really want to read The Story of Edgar Sawtell
and I won't let myself start a new book without finishing the last one. Sigh. I am making a promise to myself right now that I won't cheat on Edgar Sawtell. It's so not worth it.

Fact 9: I have a new found appreciation for Tina Fey and am now a devoted fan.

Fact 10: I just realized I should have stopped at 7.

Getaway

I have been a slacker at blogging lately. We haven't been home a whole lot and my camera ran out of batteries, so I haven't had any cute pictures to blog. Boring! Zac went to Washington DC 2 weeks ago for work so Harrison, Maisey and I went to my parents house for the week. I am so not a fan of Zac being out of town and I figured that it would go by quicker if we were with family instead of at home by ourselves. Zac hasn't ever been to DC, so he was really excited to get to be there, even though he was working the whole time and didn't get to see a lot. Then the next week he had to go to Scottsdale for training, so we all headed back up to my parents again. Harrison got to spend a lot of time with grandma and grandpa which was great because I left for Scottsdale 2 days later. I left baby boy with my parents and he had a blast! They went fishing, went swimming in the hottub, fed him everything I don't let him eat and they even bought a walker for him to use which he LOVED! He cruises everywhere in that thing. Zac and I got to do pretty much everything we don't ever get the chance to do like go shopping, eat out and go to the movies. We saw Eagle Eye, which was so good! Has anyone else seen it? It's your typical movie with a weird computer-goes-bad-and-tries-to-kill-off-the-government plot, but the action made up for it. I even cried 3 times during it, which is weird. But we both loved it. It was nice to have a couple days of downtime, but I was so ready to get back to my baby. When we got home, Harrison saw us and looked really confused. It took him a little bit to realize who we were and then he got really excited. So happy he had so much fun and was good for my parents, but I have to admit I was a sad when he looked at us and was like "Uhm, who are you and why are you interrupting my playtime with grandma and grandpa?" Bless his heart. I am just glad that he eventually remembered us. :) It made me realize that going on a getaway every now and again is probably as good for Harrison as it is for me.

Random, a few months ago I cleaned out Harrison's room and put a bunch of stuff away for storage in his closet. I was looking in there this morning and I found these pictures that I love from Mother's Day that I framed but never hung up.

The 3's

I am a little late on this one, Tara, but here goes:

3 Joys

* Watching all the leaves change in the Fall
* A spotless house
* Watching Harrison learn something new, most recently walking along furniture

3 Fears

* Zac dying before me
* Getting rear-ended (I am constantly looking out my rear view mirror and yelling at people if they are too close)
* Snakes

3 Goals

* Running a marathon
* Raising Harrison to be a gentleman
* Lose the rest o' the baby weight

3 Current Obsessions

* The Office
* Cooking
* Selling the house

3 Random/Surprising Facts

* I lived in China for a semester
* I totally rock at Cranium
* Harrison and I get the same look/squint on our faces when we are thinking hard about something - i didn't think those sorts of things were hereditary but apparently they are.

I tag Jenny Weller, Mallory, and Brittani Evans

Haircut

I finally broke down and took Harrison to get his hair cut today, so I thought I would post a few pictures. He did really well. The scissors and buzzers didn't scare him at all, but he hated having to hold still and he kept wanting to look up at what the hair stylist was doing. I was very proud of him and I am so glad that it's overwith. I just love a new haircut!

Is it Fall yet???

We have had a lot of fun doing last-minute end of Summer things. We had a ward barbeque last weekend at the Spanish Fork swimming pool. It is so nice there! It was even nicer that they closed the pool down for our ward to be there. It was a bit cold for babies, but Harrison loved it anyway - I think mostly because he got to walk along the side of the pool and felt like a big boy... nothing gets a bigger smile from him than that!


This picture is the result of the swim... Harrison's hair went crazy! Which reminds me, I really want to cut his hair. Zac says that we should let him keep his precious baby hair as long as possible, and I say that it is driving me crazy. It has about 3 different textures to it - one side is curly, one side and the front are stick straight and the back is always fuzzy. I don't want to regret cutting it too soon, but he is seriously starting to look homeless. What do you think?

Last Saturday was the first BYU football game of the season, and Zac could barely sleep the night before! We got Harrison his first BYU garb - a T-shirt and a beanie, which will be brought out in a month or so. I was a little worried about how Harrison would handle sitting at a football game for 3 1/2 hours, but he did amazingly well! He and I sat under the bleachers with all the other moms and babies during the first half - it was so hot! A bunch of clouds rolled in at halftime so we watched the rest of the game from our seats. Zac had been waiting for this game ever since he found out we were pregnant. I don't think Harrison really has a choice of whether or not he's a BYU fan. I love that Zac wants to take him to all the games though. There is nothing cuter than seeing all the dads there with their little boys teaching them all about football.

Last of all, we have some exciting news! We put our house up for sale this week, which feels like a huge accomplishment. We have been debating about it ever since the beginning of the year, and we finally decided that it's the right time. We feel so far away from family in Springville, even though they're all only about an hour away. We feel like we are constantly going up to Syracuse and it is starting to get old. Zac doesn't work in Provo anymore, so there really doesn't seem to be any reasons to stay. So for the past week, we have been doing some serious fixing-up. I am happy to say that I am now a self-proclaimed Mrs. Fix-it. We cleaned out the whole house and scrubbed it and have it looking beautiful! The realtor came and took pictures, and we thought we didn't need to have it super tidy for awhile. My parents came down the next day and helped me get a good start on the re-paint of the bathroom. We originally painted it dark brown to match our bedroom and it was a seriously horrible job - we only did one coat and not one wall looked good. So we got the whole thing fixed up and painted in a day. The next morning, I was moseying around the bathroom taking the tape of and admiring the paint job when the realtor called and said that more pictures needed to be taken and they would be there in 2 hours to take them. AAH! I seirously freaked out and I haven't moved so fast in my whole life. I managed to put the whole bathroom back together, hardware, cupboard doors and all, and clean the house just in time for them to arrive. Hopefully that's all done with. The nice thing is that people can only see our house by appointment, which takes a huge stress off of me so I don't have to keep my house spotless all the time. Wish us luck!

Just pictures

It's been awhile since I've posted and I wanted to share some cute pictures, but I have a cold and my head isn't really working, so that's about all that I have to say about it.

Harrison and I have been sick, so Zac went to the store last night to get some medicine and this is what he came home to.

Harrison and Grandpa Kim... Harrison was ready for bed.

Here is one of the pictures at the waterfall.

The other morning I sat Harrison on the couch and was in the other room. When I came back, Maisey had laid on his lap and they were snuggling and Harrison was petting her. It was so sweet.

I love this picture.

Harrison with cousins Berkley and Cali.

Harrison had eaten some otter pops at Grandma and Grandpa Elder's, and as if that wasn't enough fun, he got to roll around on the deck in the dirt. He was a mess!

Harrison can't crawl or walk yet, but he really wants to. His latest trick is to walk in circles while holding on to whatever he can... this is what my mom and Justin came up with.

Blah...

I am sitting at my computer at my house and couldn't feel more like trash. It has been a crazy week with our family and Friday night cannot come soon enough... Here's why:

1. My brother Jeremy went to Primary Children's on Tuesday to have his tonsils and adnoids taken out. He has been sick with a fever for a month now, and it breaks my heart to see him sick for so long. My mom is exhausted from all the caregiving and worrying about him. Anyway, the doctor said that it's tonsilitis and the best thing to do is take them out. For all of you that know him, Jeremy is a loud guy pretty much all the time. When they went in for surgery they found out why: He has a big flap of skin over his voicebox, which makes him sound like he's snoring when he breathes. They decided to take care of that while they were in there. If this all works out, I am sure his and my parents' life will be SO much different and a lot more easy and quiet! The doctors said that they expect him to be in the hospital for a day, and now we're going on 3. This morning I got a call from my mom at about 5:45 saying that his CO2 spiked way high and his oxygen was super low, so they put him in intensive care. They expect him to be in there for a day or two, and then I am guessing they will probably put him back into the post-surgical unit until he is fever-free for 24 hours and breathing well. My mom and dad are both staying at the hospital with him while he's in intensive care and John and Mal are holding the fort down with Justin.

2. Zac has had a bad week at work, which is never fun for anyone. Plus we just found out that he is traveling two weeks in a row in September. 'Nuff said.

3. I was seriously ready to take Maisey's collar off and let her go free last night. We stayed at my parents house for a few days with Jeremy's surgery and appointments we had up there. She is a great dog, but she does not like to be ignored and she lets us know. I have been so busy with being at the hospital and taking care of Bug that we really haven't played with her at all. My mom has a nice little sitting room in the entryway of her house with a pretty piano, nice white carpet, and a big ficus tree that takes up about half of the room. Twice while we were up there, Maisey got into the dirt of the plant and dug it out onto the carpet. And it's happened before. It's getting old. After we cleaned up the mess and made her sit by it and pout, I walked in to the living room and saw that she tore up Livi's (my family's dog) sleeping cushion and ate the stuffing in it. Dumb dog. She would have been toast last night if Zac hadn't stuck up for her. Ugh. $17 and a new cushion later, everything was back to normal. I am still not convinced that she's staying. I just keep telling myself that she will be a great asset to the family when there are more of us to play with her. We'll see.

4. The car accident I blogged about awhile back has been causing me major headaches, so I finally broke down and went to the chiropractor today. I guess my neck is all tweaked which is messing with the nerves back there, causing me daily headaches. And I stick my neck foreward. So I feel like crap and look weird? Good news. I guess because of it my back and hips were out of place as well. So I got thoroughly popped today, and it scared me to death! Has anyone else been to the chiropractor? The hips and back weren't so bad, but when he did my neck it popped in about 10 different spots and made this crazy noise and I thought for sure my head was going to fall off. According to the chiropractor, that doesn't happen but I don't know if I believe it... So anyway, now I feel like my back is out of line in so many different places and I want to pop it so bad, but I don't want to undo what he did. I have to go in again next week to see what the plan of attack is. Fun.

5. The good part of the week was that Harrison got tooth #3. This one is on the top. They seem to be coming in quick - the sooner the better! He also started waving this week. He is growing so fast!

Since blogs aren't as much fun without pictures, here are a few.

Jeremy and me when were were little.

Get well soon Bearsys! We love you!

Maisey. What a stinker.

Me and my friend/Chinese roommate Kim. Kind of random, but she just announced on her blog that she's preggo, and I am way excited for her. Congrats girlfriend! I am crossing my fingers it's a boy...

High School Tag...

Thanks Kim for making me bring back the memories...

1. Who did you date from your school? I don't think I ever went out with the same person twice.
2. What kind of car did you drive? The old brown chevy, then I upgraded to my little neon
3. It’s Friday night...where are you? Kathy's house, out with friends or working
4. Were you a party animal? Not at all
5. Were you considered a flirt? Probably not
6. Were you in band, orchestra, or choir? Choir and choir pianist... it's really all I knew how to do
7. Were you a nerd? I didn't think so, but I am pretty sure everyone else did
8. Were you on any varsity teams? Nope
9. Did you get suspended/expelled? Ha... no
10. Can you still sing the fight song? I do every time I drive by the school... I think Zac has it memorized now too.
11. Who were your favorite teachers? Mrs. Sommerkorn made math fun... Mr. Anderson's AP Music Theory was so fun
12. Where did you sit during lunch? It depends on which year in school it was... Sophomore year I was the new kid so I ate by myself in front of my locker, Junior year in the lunchroom with my buds, Senior year either Wendy's or at home.
13. What was your school's full name? Clearfield High School
14. School mascot? Falcons
15. Did you go to Homecoming and who with? Oh goodness... Sophomore year was a setup and I don't remember his name, Junior year was Ben Mortensen and Senior year was Matt Whale
16. If you could go back and do it again, would you? Absolutely not
17. What do you remember most about graduation? The graduation party with friends and being so sick the next day about really being done with high school.
18. Where did you go senior skip day? We didn't have one
19. Were you in any clubs? National Honors Society... I mostly worked through high school
20. Have you gained some weight since then? A little
21. Who was your prom date? Scott Olsen Junior year, didn't go senior year.
22. Are you planning on going to your 10 year reunion? Probably not
23. Who do you tag? Victoria, Mallory, Marci, Kathy and Jenny Weller. I want to hear all about it!

Shamless advertising

Okay, so I just realized today that somewhere in my blog background change, I lost my little blog counter. I am always curious to see if anybody ever really reads this or not, so I decided I would put another one back up. I found the one I liked and I thought it was looking pretty cute, when I realized that underneath the counter it said JONES ACT LAWYERS. What the??? So I clicked on it and it is totally a website for some Law firm called The Ogletree Abbott Lawfirm. Apparently they are a law firm that represent injured workers in the shipment business who are protected under something called the Jones Act. I have one question about all of this: Who are they trying to advertise to here? I am pretty sure that if I worked in the shipping business and needed a lawyer I would probably not look on a free blog counter website for one. Do you think these guys are really getting any business off of this? Are there really enough people in the shipping business to be advertising something so specific in such broad arena? Although I don't quite get it, I will just pretend that their website isn't on my blog page and I will just admire my cute new counter.

A cinnamon toast miracle!

Hey everyone. I just want to thank you all for your advice and encouragement about the baby food situation. Sometimes being a mom feels so complicated! You wouldn't think that learning to eat would be that difficult, but the funny thing about kids is that the simplest sounding things can be the most frustrating! And just as you think you have your child figured out and things are running smooth, something changes. Harrison has always been a handful in the sleep department. Again... who would have thought sleeping would be hard? For the longest time he would cry every time I put him down to sleep and then wake up every 45 minutes or so. Then all of a sudden he started sleeping from the minute we put him down at night until 7:30 the next morning. I was so excited and finally felt like I had it down and that we were both on the same page. Things were going smooth and being a mom felt so much easier, and then he decided he didn't want to eat the food his doctor said he should be eating. I think my stress level about it is so over the top because I am afraid of making a huge mistake that will effect him the rest of his life. I have heard of kids who don't eat well from the beginning, stay picky eaters as toddlers and become malnourished, and I am so afraid that my mistakes with him when he's a baby will turn into a big problem. So all of these feelings combined made me a basket case about the whole situation and in the end, I was the one making the eating times bad because I was so uptight about it. After reading all of your advice, I decided to back off and try to not freak out about it. After a couple of bad days, Zac's effort to save my sanity with some Coldplay concert tickets (thanks babe!), and a few no-pressure feedings Harrison is finally eating! I decided to skip the baby food and go for the solids that he likes, the first I discovered being cinnamon toast. So now every morning we eat breakfast together. If I start out feeding him cinnamon toast and sips of milk he will always be open to eating his oatmeal and anything else I try to give him. He even tried apple sauce after I took a few bites, which he would never eat before. He still didn't like it, but at least he tried it. I guess kids definitely do learn by example, and it makes sense. How can we expect them to do things that we aren't willing to do? He definitely pays more attention than I give him credit for, and if I wasn't going to eat his baby food, there's no way on earth he was going to.

A little moral support from the moms...

So Harrison is almost 8 months old and is the most stubborn person I have ever known. We have been trying to get him to eat baby food since he was about 4 months old. We worked on the cereal for about 2 months before he would eat it willingly. At our 6 month doctor appointment, the docotor asks "So what fruits and vegetables is he eating?" and my repsponse was "well... none so far, but not because we haven't been working on it," and then he told me to keep trying and that he should be eating them already. So ever since then, minus a few exceptions, we have offered him cereal and fruit for breakfast, cereal and veggies for lunch, and a fruit and veggie for dinner. As soon as he sees anything but cereal, he purses his lips and won't budge. I have been saying to myself "Okay, if I just keep trying, eventually he will take it." It has gotten to the point where he doesn't even really like his cereal anymore. Eating food is being associated with bad feelings for him, and I seriously dread every meal now. I have tried mixing the food with the cereal, feeding him the food on my finger, letting him try to feed himself, trying to feed him the solid version of the food and yet none of it is working. Today I decided that I was going to wait until he was seriously overly hungry and try to feed him carrots. It soon turned into a force-feeding session that left both of us completely drained and crying. Have any of you had problems with this? Do any of you have some good adivce? How long is too long to keep offering food with no success?

Trip to Albuquerque

We spent a weekend in Albuquerque to visit Jake and Victoria, who are living there for the Summer. It was such a fun time! We went on the world's longest tram ride up to Sandia Peak, ate dinner at the restaurant at the top, visited Old Town, and did a lot of relaxing! Harrison had his first plane ride there and back, and he did so well! It is so funny when you realize that babies aren't as hot of a commodity other places as they are in Utah, so Harrison made a lot of new friends out and about. Thanks for the fun vacation, guys!

Hit and what???

Call it cool or call it lame, Zac and I went to The Police concert at Usana last Saturday. Not that we are super huge fans, but we like them and thought it would be way cool to see the reunion concert. So we are driving on 5400 South in Kearns and we are like a mile away from the venue stuck in concert traffic. We are stopped at a light in our little green Ford Escort when a Dodge Durango hits us from behind. Ugh. I looked back at them and they guy at the wheel is emotionless and the girl in the passenger seat has this look of unbelief on her face while she's laughing. Weird. So we pull into a little parking lot like 10 feet away, and we are both a little bit flustered about the whole thing. We look behind us and the Durango takes off! We both couldn't believe it. The guy that was behind the Durango yelled the license plate number to us, which was nice and all... but he didn't stop to report as a witness. So we call the police and it seriously took him like 20 minutes to get there. By then, all the concert traffic was gone and we were thinking that we were going to get a spot at the back of the grass and not see a thing at the concert. So he gets there and works on the report and such, and then tells us that it will probably take a couple of weeks to find the guy. Oh, and the guy driving the Durango has to verify that the crash actually happened in order for anything to happen. Yeah right. The plate number we gave them matched up to the one they have on record for a maroon Durango, so that was a little relief. They never sent any police over at the time or anything, and I am pretty sure the guy thinks he got away with it even up to this point. It is so frustrating that we have to wait so long to find out if he even has insurance to fix our car! If not, we just have to deal with it. Our insurance will pay up to $3500, but our premium will go up. I can't believe people can get away with stuff like that! Luckily the only damage is the back bumper and our compacted trunk... the trunk door won't shut. I have had neighbors coming by asking me if they should close the trunk because it's open... I wish. Zac and my dad were able to wire it shut, so at least it's not hanging wide open. Hopefully I won't have to drive around with it that way for too long. I guess the good thing in all of this is that he was only going like 10 MPH. We could have been hurt and the car could have been totalled. Anyway, so we finally got to the concert and had a fun time. I love Usana Ampatheater... it is so pretty out there and it was fun to watch a concert on the grass. And it was a lot of fun to see all of the plastered people dance around.

Our sad little car.



The sky was so beautiful!

The band was teeny tiny. Good thing they had a big screen. And might I add that Sting is dang good looking for a 56 year old man??

Me and my honey.